Page:Goffinesdevoutin00goffuoft.djvu/63

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

To give or wish something good to any one; in the first of these senses God alone blesses, because all goods of soul or body which we have, or wish to have, come from Him; in the second sense, angels and men may bless us, in wishing us what ever is good, and in praying for it to God.

Have we examples of blessing in Scripture? Yes; an angel blessed Jacob (Gen. xxxii. 29); Jacob, when dying, blessed his children and grandchildren (Gen. xlviii. 15);


Melchisedech blessed Abraham (Gen. xiv. 19); Rebecca was blessed by her brother (Gen. xxiv. 60); and the priests blessed the people. Our Saviour also blessed His disciples with up lifted hands.

Is it good for parents to bless their children?

Yes; for God fulfils blessings of good parents, as He did those, for example, of the patriarchs Isaac and Jacob.

"The father's blessing establisheth the houses of the children, but the mother's curse rooteth up the foundations" (Eccles. iii. 11).

What virtue is there in the priest's blessing?